How Stress Affects Your Liver Health

What’s in this article

What is stress?

How to tell if you are stressed

How stress affects your liver health

Effective Management

Self-medicating

When to seek help

What is stress?Stress is not good for our bodies, it can lead to many physical and mental health issues, but what exactly is it? It is our bodies reaction to a situation that the body deems harmful. Without stress the human race would not have survived, going back to caveman times, it was what alerted our ancestors of potential dangers. Fast forward to today and we still have that ‘fight or flight’ mode built into us. When we get stressed, our body releases a mixture of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine. This causes the body to have different responses such as blood being diverted to muscles or shutting down our digestion. It is easy to see that over time stress can really take a toll on our health.

How stress affects your liver healthIn a recent publication in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology it was noted that during stressful times, natural killer cells are expanded in the liver and in some cases, contributed to liver cell death and made the liver disease worse. The study also found that in the part of the brain that controls the liver, stress was found to weaken blood flow which could lead to or trigger liver damage. The authors concluded that even though the interactions between stress and the liver are not fully understood, there seems to be a negative association regarding liver disease progression.

How to tell if you are stressedWe all handle stress in different ways and so symptoms are broad. Stress can mimic symptoms of many health conditions so it is important to talk to your doctor about any changes with your mind and body.

Emotional symptoms include:

Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody.

Feeling overwhelmed or losing control

Difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind

Low self-esteem, loneliness, feeling worthless and depressed

Avoiding others

Physical symptoms include:

Low energy

Headaches

Upset stomach, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea

Aches, pains, and tense muscles

Chest pain and rapid heartbeat

Insomnia

Frequent colds and infections

Loss of sexual desire and/or ability

Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet

Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing

Clenched jaw and grinding teeth

Effective ManagementThere are many ways to eliminate stress from your life and you will need to find the best one to suit you. Below are some ideas for stress-busting:

You are what you eat – eat healthy and nutritious meals

Stay hydrated

Exercise –one of the best strategies to staying healthy

Learn to meditate

Get giggling – laughing is an effective stress buster

Work on spoiling yourself with hobbies, massages, treatments etc.

Surround yourself with positive people and attitudes

Self-medicatingUnfortunately, many people turn to self-medicating when they are stressed as it seems to be the easy option for them. Self-medicating can come in many forms such as excessive consumption of alcohol, drugs, smoking and even food. It is important to be self-aware and notice if you yourself are self-medicating before it turns into an addiction or starts to negatively affect your life or your health. The most common forms of self-medication are all very dangerous for liver health, especially when used regularly. If you think you may be self-medicating you should talk to your doctor. If you think someone you know may be self-medicating you should try to talk to them or someone you think may be able to help their situation.

When to seek helpSometimes we need to seek help from others and this is not a bad thing. Realizing that you need help is a huge step and it means you are on the road to feeling better. If you have tried to reduce stresses in your life or if you are unsure that stress is the cause of your symptoms you should see a doctor as soon as possible. If you just cannot manage the stress in your life it may help to see a therapist or counselor to talk about what might be causing the problem.

Find out about the nutrition bar that 99% of liver health experts would recommend!

Related Posts

Please note that we do not provide any medical advice, diagnoses, procedures, tests or therapies on our website.
Amsety does not offer any medical diagnosis or treatment advice and our products are not intended to diagnose,
treat, cure or prevent any disease. As a liver patient, you should always discuss your diet with your doctor.

AMSETY

CONTACT US

GDPR Disclaimer

We do not offer any goods / services to the customers in the European Union (EU) and thus do not process personal data of data subjects in the EU in connection with (i) offering of goods or services or (ii) monitoring of individuals in EU.
The following factors indicate that we are not intended to offer any goods or services to data subjects in the EU:

We do not accept any local currencies of the EU

We do not allow for orders to be delivered to the EU

We do not provide services to EU users on our website and in marketing materials

We remove all EU countries in address fields or similar drop-down menus

We do not allow users located in the EU to sign up for services

We do not enter into direct contractual relationships with EU end customers

We do not provide any telephone hotline numbers of any Member State of the EU

We do not advertise our goods or services specifically to consumers in the EU

We do not use a top-level domain name of any Member State of the EU

Our website does not mention customers based in the EU

Our company is intended to provide goods / services specifically to the customers of the United States of America and Canada.